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TV Appearances: 1990s

7th Annual American Cinema Awards
Aired: January 27, 1990
Elizabeth was a presenter at the 7th Annual American Cinema Awards.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Aired: February 21, 1992 on NBC
Elizabeth made her one and only appearance on The Tonight Show, saying she had nothing to sell, but instead wanted to stop by before Carson wrapped up his stint as the host of The Tonight Show. This appearance was one of Elizabeth’s greatest television interviews, and displayed her wonderful sense of humour as she matched Carson wit for wit. Discussing her upcoming sixtieth birthday, Elizabeth said, “It’s kind of astonishing that I made it!” Filmed at NBC Studios in Burbank, California.

Elizabeth’s interview is available on the following DVDs: The Ultimate Collection Starring Johnny Carson and Heeere’s Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection From The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

The 64th Annual Academy Awards
Aired: March 30, 1992 on ABC
Elizabeth reunited with her Cat on a Hot Tin Roof costar and friend Paul Newman to present the Oscar for Best Picture, which went to The Silence of the Lambs. Aired live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
Aired: April 20, 1992
Elizabeth appeared at a concert tribute at Wembley Stadium in London for Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS. In her speech Elizabeth spoke of Mercury, and of the AIDS crisis worldwide, urging the audience members to have safe sex and to not share needles. The concert aired live in 76 countries. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert is available on DVD, with the proceeds going to AIDS.

In a New Light: A Call to Action in the War Against AIDS
Aired: July 11, 1992 on ABC
Elizabeth provided an introduction for In a New Light, an AIDS fundraiser which aired on ABC. Public figures from the world of sports, music, government, film, theatre, and television bonded together to educate the public about AIDS and raise much needed money for the cause. Linda Lavin, Bruce Davison, and Robert Guillaume served as the program’s hosts. Stars such as Curtis Stigers, Clint Black, Anita Baker, Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, Salt ‘n’ Pepa, Andrea Martin, Phil Rodriguez, Lesley Ann Warren, Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Reeve, Dustin Hoffman and Lou Diamond Phillips all appeared. The program also featured clips from the AIDS musical Heart Strings as well as a tribute to Oscar winning songwriter Howard Asherman, a causality of AIDS. Proceeds from advertising shown during the special were donated to the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS.

The Whoopi Goldberg Show
Aired: September 14, 1992
Elizabeth showed up on the first episode of Whoopi Goldberg’s new syndicated talk show.

Good Morning America
Aired: September 1992 on ABC
An interview with Elizabeth and Elton John at his star studded concert benefitting AIDS. Other performers that night included George Michael, Lionel Richie, Bruce Hornsby, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Aired: November 21, 1992 (Season 3, Episode?)
Elizabeth played the mother of high school basketball player Todd Andrews (Neil Patrick Harris), a boy with AIDS. A villain named Verminous Skumm tries to spread untruths about Todd and the AIDS disease around his high school. Elizabeth attended a screening of the show at a children’s hospital for children with AIDS.

The Simpsons
Episode: Lisa’s First Word (Season 4, Episode 10)
Aired: December 3, 1992 on Fox
Elizabeth uttered the first word of Maggie Simpson on The Simpsons. This episode, along with Elizabeth’s second appearance on the show, is available on The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season DVD set.

The Arsenio Hall Show
Aired: 1992
A nervous Arsenio Hall was relieved when Elizabeth said the reason she wanted to appear on his show was because of a funny skit he did with an Elizabeth Taylor look-a-like. Elizabeth loved hearing the ‘barking’ that was the trademark of Arsenio’s show. In addition to discussing her career and love of motorcycling, they also talked about the newly established Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Aired: 1992
On Elizabeth’s second time on Oprah, the popular host, who introduced her as Elizabeth Taylor Fortensky, asked her about her recent 60th birthday at Disneyland, her new Life magazine cover, her friendship with Michael Jackson, and her new marriage to Larry Fortensky. Elizabeth also took the oppourtunity to apologize for her last appearance on the show, an interview that Oprah would more recently call the most difficult of her career. Elizabeth also answered questions from the audience. At the end of the program, Oprah asked her viewers to donate to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

A clip of this interview appears on the DVD The Oprah Winfrey Show: The 20th Anniversary Collection.

20th Annual American Music Awards
Aired: January 25, 1993
Elizabeth appeared at the 20th Annual American Music Awards to give the first International Artists Awards to Michael Jackson. She was introduced by Gloria Estefan.

Michael Jackson Talks... to Oprah: 90 Primetime Minutes with the King of Pop
Aired: February 10, 1993 on ABC
Elizabeth made a surprise appearance during Oprah Winfrey’s primetime interview with Michael Jackson. Elizabeth, who at first didn’t intend to appear on the program, set the record straight about her friendship with her friend Jackson and the controversy surrounding him.

Larry King Live
Aired: March 3, 1993 on CNN
Elizabeth’s first appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live.

TNT Extra: A Very Special Conversation with Elizabeth Taylor
Aired: March 13, 1993 on TNT
A special interview with Larry King about Elizabeth’s life and career, conducted at her home.

The 65th Annual Academy Awards
Aired: March 29, 1993
Elizabeth was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her tireless AIDS work at The 65th Annual Academy Awards from Angela Lansbury. Elizabeth called the award “the highest possible accolade I could receive from my peers”. That year, the award, which isn’t necessarily given annually, was also given posthumously to Audrey Hepburn, who Elizabeth paid tribute to in her speech. Aired live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The American Film Institute Salute to Elizabeth Taylor
Taped: March 11, 1993
Aired: May 6, 1993 on ABC
On March 11, 1993, Elizabeth Taylor was given The American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award at a dinner hosted by Carol Burnett at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Elizabeth was only the fourth woman (after Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, and Barbara Stanwyck) and the youngest person to receive the honour since it was first given out in 1973. “The recipient,” the trustees wrote, “should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time.” Elizabeth certainly met those criteria. In addition to a retrospective of her esteemed career, many of Elizabeth’s dearest friends and costars were on hand to speak on her behalf, including Roddy McDowall, Dennis Hopper, Angela Lansbury, Michael York, Michael Caine, and Dr. Mathilde Krim. After George Stevens Jr. presented her with the award, Elizabeth revealed how much she had missed acting, and took the time to pay tribute to her favourite leading men: Montgomery Clift, Rock Hudson, and Richard Burton.

The Simpsons
Episode: Krusty Gets Kancelled
Aired: May 13, 1993
After Krusty the Klown’s television show is cancelled, a heartbroken Bart and Lisa Simpson try to resurrect Krusty’s career by staging the Krusty Komeback Special with the help of such stars as Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, and Hugh Hefner. Bart and Lisa ask for Elizabeth’s participation, but she refuses. Later, while watching the show, Elizabeth says, “I’ve gotta fire that agent.”

This episode is available on The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season DVD set.

The Jackson Family Honors
Aired: February 22, 1994 on NBC
In the first (and only) Jackson Family Honors, Michael Jackson gave the Jackson Family Honors Award to Elizabeth for her AIDS work. Her acceptance speech seemed more like a tribute to Jackson, and it appears as if she cut her own speech short after Jackson fans got unruly demanding a performance from Jackson. Filmed at the Grand Garden Arena MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Liz Night (The Nanny, Can’t Hurry Love, Murphy Brown and High Society)
In honour of the release of her latest perfume, Black Pearls, Elizabeth made crossover appearances on four of television’s favourite sitcoms, The Nanny, Can’t Hurry Love, Murphy Brown, and High Society, which all aired on CBS The evening was known as “Liz Night” or “Taylor Made Monday”. Other CBS TV stars such as Chuck Norris (Walker, Texas Ranger), Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote), and Paul Gross (Due South) all appeared in character on TV spots promoting Elizabeth’s appearances and the ‘disappearance’ of her expensive pearls.

The Nanny
Episode: Where’s the Pearls? (Season 3, Episode 21)
Aired: February 26, 1996
The Nanny was a long running sitcom about a woman named Fran who becomes a nanny for the children of a Broadway producer named Maxwell. Fran discovers that Elizabeth Taylor will be stopping over to visit Maxwell, and stops at nothing to meet Elizabeth—from faking an injury with one of the children, to using a guard dog to intimidate the butler, Niles. When Fran finally meets Elizabeth, she tells her that she has seen all of her work; her favourite being the appearance on Here’s Lucy. When Fran hangs up Elizabeth’s coat, she discovers that her mother, Sylvia, is hiding in the closet. Sylvia explains, “If I could meet Elizabeth Taylor, I could retire in Florida tomorrow!” Fran’s fun is over when Maxwell discovers that Elizabeth has arrived. Niles then arrives with the tea, his clothes in tatters after being attacked by a guard dog Fran installed at the back door to make sure her plan worked. The star stuck butler asks, “How do you do Tis Maylor? I’m Biles the nutler!” Before leaving the room for her meeting with Maxwell, Elizabeth asks Fran to have a courier deliver her valuable string of black pearls for a photo shoot. Not one to leave it to the professionals, Fran vows to deliver them herself. The pearls go missing after Fran bumps her head on the partition of a cab being driven by Cozette (Rosie O’Donnell) and is rushed to the hospital—leaving the pearls behind.

Can’t Hurry Love
Episode: The Elizabeth Taylor Episode (Season 1, Episode 19)
Aired: February 26, 1996 on CBS
Can’t Hurry Love was a short-lived sitcom about a single woman living in New York. While searching for money to pay the cab fare, Didi and Annie come across the black pearl necklace that was lost by Fran on The Nanny. They try to offer that to the cab driver instead of money, but he won’t go for it. Thinking the pearls are fake, Annie decides to wear the pearls to the Policeman’s Ball. While there, her friends back at home hear on the news that the pearls are really Elizabeth Taylor’s priceless missing pearls. They go down to the Ball to tell her, but by then the necklace has already flown off Annie’s neck while she was doing the “whirling Carlucci” and unbeknownst to her, have been pocketed by a waiter.

While Annie and Didi are in a department store trying on clothes, they overhear an announcement saying that Elizabeth Taylor will be making a personal appearance to promote her new perfume, Black Pearls. Unbeknownst to Didi and Annie, Elizabeth is in the next dressing room—and hears that it was Annie who lost the $300,00 necklace! After explaining the whole story, a stunned Elizabeth says “I keep cheating death to meet people like this.” ‘Pearl Search ‘96’ is still underway.

Star Mariska Hargitay said she “caught herself staring” at Elizabeth during the filming of what would be the final episode of Can’t Hurry Love.

Murphy Brown
Episode: Trick or Retreat (Season 8, Episode 18)
Aired: February 26, 1996 on CBS
The show centers on the personal and professional life of Murphy Brown (Candace Bergen), a reporter for the FYI news program. In this particular episode, Elizabeth has shown up to film a segment about her missing pearls, but is forced to leave abruptly without filming her segment after a tip comes in. But before she does, Elizabeth finds a bell in Murphy’s office that went missing during a dinner party. Apparently Murphy had blamed Roddy McDowall for its disappearance.

Doing press for the appearance, Elizabeth said she first met Candace when she was a little girl, at her father Edgar Bergen’s home.

High Society
Episode: The Family Jewels; Season 1, Episode 13
Aired: February 26, 1996
Inspired by the popularity of the BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous, High Society was a show about two outlandish women living in New York. This episode, like Elizabeth’s appearance on Can’t Hurry Love, was the last of the series. The thief from Can’t Hurry Love steals Dott’s (Mary McDonnell) heirloom jewels. Finding out that Elizabeth’s jewelry has also gone missing, Ellie (Jean Smart) asks, “Oh please! What does Liz Taylor know about tragedy?” They find Elizabeth’s black pearls mixed in with Dott’s when it’s returned. Suddenly, you here Elizabeth’s voice say, “Not so fast, comrades…” and a bejeweled arm grabs the pearls. The door slams shut, and the black pearls are finally back in their rightful possession. Or are they?

In a brief bumper to end the evening, the leads on The Nanny reappear, with Maxwell telling Fran how thrilled he is that Elizabeth has the pearls back and that she will be appearing in his play. However, Fran plants the idea in his head that maybe the pearls were switched. We then see cab driver played by Rosie, saying that she can now retire thanks to Elizabeth and her black pearls.

Larry King Live
Aired live: July 22, 1996
On the eve of an important visit with Newt Gingerich to discuss the AIDS crisis and the defunding of the Office of AIDS, Elizabeth made a special appearance on Larry King Live to talk about her involvement with AIDS. Another panelist was Elizabeth’s friend amfAR’s co-chair Dr. Mathilde Krim.

20/20
Aired: February 14, 1997
Elizabeth was interviewed by Barbara Walters on the eve of her landmark 65th birthday, and took place only two days before Elizabeth discovered she had a brain tumour. One of Elizabeth’s better interviews; she is introspective on her life and career. The interview was conducted at Elizabeth’s home, and includes some beautiful shots of her lush garden.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life
Taped: February 16, 1997
Aired: February 1997 on ABC
Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life was an ABC special honouring the life and career of Elizabeth Taylor on her sixty-fifth birthday. The star studded event included appearances by Michael Jackson, the Bacon Brothers, Christine Baranski, Drew Barrymore, Carol Burnett, Cher, Harry Connick Jr., David Copperfield, Claudia Shiffer, Whoppi Goldberg, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, Arsenio Hall, Dennis Hopper, Patti LaBelle, Shirley MacLaine, Madonna, Martina McBride, Rosie O’Donnell, Paul Reiser, Roseanne, David Schwimmer, Rod Stewart, Lily Tomlin, and John Travolta.

Highlights included: Hugh Grant saying he doubts he will be invited back to Elizabeth’s home again after he was found in browsing her closet, Roseanne dressed as Cleopatra, Whoopi Goldberg giving Elizabeth her first social security cheque, David Copperfield making the Krupp diamond disappear, and Michael Jackson singing, ‘Elizabeth, I Love You’.

Elizabeth, who arrived for the event escorted by Michael Jackson, said she was “not here to celebrate” her birthday; instead AIDS was on her mind. Before the taping, Elizabeth discovered she had a brain tumour. The only reason she went on with the evening was because of the much needed funds it would raise for AIDS—more than one million. According to Elizabeth, “I had to decide what to do about the party. ABC had gone to enormous expense to arrange a broadcast to celebrate my 65th birthday. The taping was set for Sunday night, February 16, two weeks away, though my actual birthday falls on the 27th. To be there for the show, I’d have to delay the operation. My surgeon said I could.

And yet, I thought, the last thing I want to do right now is go to a birthday party. I can’t put my heart into that. Then I thought, to back out is really chickenshit. The party was a fund-raiser for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, a benefit for people with AIDS. The only way I can raise money to fight AIDS is by doing things like that. I can’t sing. I can’t dance. I told myself: If I don’t go, I’m letting down the people I love and support with all my heart.”

Joined by family, friends, and admirers, Elizabeth said, “All that love washing over me washed away my fears.”

The Barbara Walters Special
Aired: March 21, 1999 on ABC
Elizabeth appeared on Barbara Walters’ Oscar night special, which was her first television interview since the successful removal of a benign brain tumour just over two years prior. During the interview Elizabeth discussed her tumour, and she also made a startling revelation concerning her father. “When I was a little girl, my father was abusive when he drank and seemed to like to bat me around a bit,” said Elizabeth. “But when I left home and had my own child, I started thinking about my father and how it must have felt for him to have his 9-year-old daughter making more money than he was.”
 

The 51st British Academy Film Awards
Aired: April 11, 1999 on BBC
Elizabeth received the Academy Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and TV Arts. Surprised by the award, Elizabeth said, “I don’t think of myself as an actress and I don’t think any of you did.” Taped at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

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Elizabeth Taylor Archives © Copyright 2001-2009 Andrew Budgell